Letters from government agencies can be real scary sometimes. Especially when they contain words like "Warrant" and penalties with commas in them. By all means, take these letters seriously. But don't let them scare you.

But what passes for “security” in these agencies is a cruel joke. It is no more realistic for you to expect me to tap Mr. or Ms. Business Owner on the shoulder and hand them the phone than it is for me to demand that you tap the governor on the shoulder and get him/her on the phone. 

Nearly everything that happens in the company goes through payroll. And the person managing it needs to have the skills of an accountant, IT, lawyer, insurance agent, and operations manager, all rolled into one.

You run a draft payroll the regular way to get the numbers, enter the gross pay into an off-cycle payroll, and it spits out a number that’s off by 17¢ from what regular payroll said.  Why? Whyyyyy?

It drives me crazy when people treat a company’s FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) like it’s a big secret. FEINs are public information. 

If a California-based employee leaves, check that your provider calculates the accrual on a calendar day basis. If the employee has used some of their balance, this can get tricky.